Inventory of unsold homes falls

Media Release

Inventory of unsold homes falls as asking price expectations steady for spring

Auckland sees another record drop in available inventory as demand remains high

AUCKLAND, 2 October, 2012 – The average asking price of new listings coming onto the New Zealand property market steadied for the start of the traditional spring period, but inventory of unsold homes is still falling, says property web site Realestate.co.nz.

Data released today in the NZ Property Report – a monthly report of housing market activity compiled by Realestate.co.nz – showed inventory levels of unsold in September fell a further 1% from last month to 30.5 weeks, which is 21% down on the same time last year, and well below the long term average of 40 weeks.

Paul McKenzie, Realestate.co.nz’s Marketing Manager, said that the drop in inventory, while slight overall, was led by high on-going demand for property in Auckland, which saw its inventory fall once again to its lowest level in five years at just 17.4 weeks (long-term average 32 weeks.) “Although price expectations have steadied, the Auckland property market is especially active at the moment, and the low inventory will no doubt continue to raise confidence amongst sellers in the region,” says McKenzie

The report also showed 11,514 properties for sale came onto the national market in September; a 7.6% lift from the previous month and a 0.3% increase on the same time last year.

Meanwhile the average asking price (seasonally adjusted truncated mean) remained steady nationally in September at $429,312.

McKenzie says inventory – which measures the number of weeks it would theoretically take to sell all unsold housing stock on the market – is the clearest indicator of how much choice there is on the property market, and how much it leans in favour of buyers or sellers.

“Inventory levels across the country generally remain low, and the market remains firmly in favour of sellers across 15 of the country’s 19 regions,” says McKenzie.

Realestate.co.nz is the country’s most comprehensive property listing website profiling listings of licensed real estate agents with more than 110,000 real estate listings covering residential, commercial, business and farms for sale.

The latest issue of the NZ Property Report, covering September 2012, plus more analysis of the property market can be found on www.unconditional.co.nz, the news and information website for New Zealand real estate.

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